shadow of britain

Chapter 555: Fiona with Complex Ingredients
There are two ways of life for people who make a living in academia. One is to live for academia, and the other is to live by academia. The latter studies to improve life, and the former studies to improve the world. The teaching goal of the University of Göttingen is to do everything possible to shape people who live for academia. Why do we do this? This is because we see that, students, your generation will completely reshape the German national spirit!
——Sir Arthur Hastings, Chancellor of the University of Göttingen and Special Representative of the State, Opening Speech at the Autumn Term of 1833 at the University of Göttingen
Arthur stood in the auditorium of the University of Göttingen, wearing a black academic robe that fell to his ankles. The slender cut made his tall figure look particularly dignified.

The robe is made of fine wool, thick yet elegant, and the black fabric has a calm luster in the sun. The edge of the robe is decorated with velvet trim, and the delicate texture adds a sense of nobility to the outfit, while the exquisite silver embroidery on the collar is a symbol of academic prestige.

As he finished speaking, applause surged from every corner of the auditorium, instantly flooding the entire space. The professors nodded slightly in agreement, while the freshmen politely applauded and looked curiously at the seniors whose cheeks were slightly flushed due to excessive excitement.

Since they have just enrolled, most of the freshmen do not understand why the seniors are so excited.

However, the professors and lecturers were quite aware of the hidden meaning of the new superintendent's speech.

The phrase "German national spirit" is a very sensitive word at this point in time, but the school supervisor said it quite naturally on such an important occasion, which is enough to illustrate his attitude towards the German national movement and the promotion of liberal thought.

Whether for his stance or for his courage, they all had reason to give Arthur the warmest applause.

Arthur saw the cheering students in the audience and just smiled and waved gently.

He was wearing a flat-topped academic hat with a slightly tilted brim. The gold tassel in the center of the hat hung on one side, swaying slightly with his every move.

The brief opening ceremony came to an end quickly, and most of the students were still whispering excitedly until they left.

The remaining students were rushing to the school square because they had a meeting to hold there. The newly established Göttingen Social Activists and Event Planning Organization would announce the voting results there soon. The first president of the society would make a victory declaration and take the oath of office after the counting was completed.

Arthur saw that most of the students had left. While packing up the materials on the podium, he looked at Fiona sitting in the first row.

"You don't have to come with me. It's just a speech at the beginning of the semester. There's nothing interesting to hear. You finally came to Germany, you should go to the nearby attractions. Ten miles east of the city, you can see the Werra Valley. There is a castle called Hanauhausen on the top of the mountain. The castle was built by the Wend family in the 11th century and was once an important military fortress of the Holy Roman Empire. Although the place is deserted now, it is still worth a visit."

Fiona shook her head and said, "I'm not interested in the Middle Ages."

"not interested?"

Arthur tucked the speech under his armpit and frowned as he thought, "What about myths? Although the Harz Mountains are a little far from Göttingen, the natural scenery is absolutely amazing. The highest peak of the Harz Mountains, the Brocken, is the most famous place of magic and legend in German mythology. Many stories in the Grimm's Fairy Tales written by the Grimm brothers in our school are set there, such as "The Witch of the Brocken" and so on."

Fiona leisurely lifted her long skirt and stood up: "Since there is already a witch there, why should I go to the Harz Mountains to steal her job?"

"Ah..." Arthur waved his hand and said, "There are not only witches there, but also the Rose Princess. In addition, there are dwarves, elves and bears."

Fiona stood in the audience with no intention of leaving. She held out her hand to Arthur and frowned slightly, saying, "You seem to want to get rid of me?"

"how can that be possible?"

Arthur took off his academic hat, walked down from the podium and held her hand: "I just think that you don't know German, and it's hard to avoid being lonely in a rural place like Göttingen."

"Who told you I don't speak German?"

Fiona said disdainfully: "You only know that my family immigrated from Russia, but you don't know that our ancestors were originally Germans."

"Huh?" Arthur asked in surprise, "Why is your family moving around so much? It sounds like gypsies."

Fiona flew into a rage upon hearing this. She pinched the back of Arthur's hand fiercely and said, "How dare you insult me ​​like this? Your family is the gypsies!"

Arthur realized that he had said something wrong, and quickly apologized with a smile: "Maybe you are right. I heard from the parish priest in my hometown that I was born in a caravan."

When Fiona heard this, she realized that she had almost forgotten about Arthur's strange temper.

This graduate of the University of London and a disciple of Jeremy Bentham implemented the motto of the University of London quite thoroughly.

The University of London adheres to the principle of education for all. Religion, race and occupation are not important here.

Arthur's social circle is as chaotic as the campus of University of London, and even one of his friends can often represent quite a number of identities.

Black people, fat people, writers, romantic people, artillerymen, and republicans.

Bonaparte, British nationality, cadet, policeman, republican emperor.

Fiona quickly calmed down after realizing this, but she still couldn't help but teach him: "You told me before that after you leave the post of dean, you might be transferred to Russia. So you'd better remember that the second biggest insult to a Russian is to say that he has gypsy blood."

"Hmm? This is only the second largest?" Arthur asked with interest, "Then what is the largest one?"

Fiona snorted, "He said he was a Mongolian."

After saying that, Fiona did not forget to remind him, "But you'd better not say that, because if you say that, he will probably fight you to death."

Arthur was puzzled and asked, "Why? Just because I said he was a Mongolian, the Russians wanted to fight me to death?"

Fiona held up a small parasol, took Arthur's arm and said, "Aren't you a university student studying history? Then you should know that the Russians were conquered by the Mongols in the past. So, if you call a Russian a savage, it's not just calling him a barbarian, it's also like calling one of his grandmothers a savage who was abused by the Mongols. It would be strange if he doesn't fight you to the death."

Arthur thought about it for a moment and asked, "What if I want to praise a Russian? What should I say?"

Fiona puffed out her chest with pride: "It's people like me. You can praise him for his German ancestry and not being a pure Russian. If you say that, he will probably buy you a drink." "You have German ancestry?" Arthur took two steps back and looked at Fiona again. However, after looking at her for a long time, he still couldn't see any of the heroic spirit of the dragoon: "I don't think so!"

"Why don't you look like me?" Fiona said angrily, "I have one eighth of German blood in me!"

Arthur didn't know what she was angry about. "But Heine told me that German girls walk like dragoons. You know, dragoons ride horses all year round, so most of them have bow legs. How long have you had this symptom?"

When Fiona heard this, she quickly changed her tone and said, "Oh, then I guess my German bow legs are covered by my other one-eighth French blood."

Arthur felt that this woman was playing tricks on him again. "Where did your one-eighth German and one-eighth French blood come from?"

“From my great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents.”

Fiona enumerated them one by one, "They all came to Russia during Peter the Great's reforms. My French great-grandfather was introduced as a skilled craftsman, and my great-grandfather was a low-ranking officer recruited from Germany. From Peter the Great to the reign of Empress Catherine, foreign technical experts, officers, engineers, and scholars were constantly recruited to Russia. Since most of them were Germans, if you have German blood, then your ancestors were probably not ordinary people. Therefore, people of German blood are naturally superior in Russia."

When Arthur heard this, he suddenly realized that the European chain of contempt for bloodline was really long.

The French bloodline is at the top, followed by the Italian, Spanish and German bloodlines which look down on each other, then the Polish, Lithuanian and Russian bloodlines which dislike each other, and then the Mongolian bloodlines.

As for British ancestry, this ancestry is like British politics. Although everyone thinks it is important, it is not included in the system of continental Europe, and it itself is not willing to be accepted into it.

However, this does not mean that Britain does not have its own internal chain of contempt.

After all, even if we classify according to English accent, we can divide them into several levels.

The highest level is those who can speak English, the second level is those who have a Scottish or Welsh accent, the third level is those who have an Irish accent, the fourth level does not speak English at all, and the last level is those who can speak American English.

Fiona asked curiously, "What about you? What bloodline do you have?"

Arthur shrugged and said, "Who knows? If I'm not a gypsy, then my ancestors may have been digging for food in the fields of York since the time of William the Conqueror."

Fiona looked at the York boy who claimed that his ancestors were poor farmers for eight generations, and smiled with her fan covering her mouth, "That's not necessarily true. Your last name is Hastings. Maybe your ancestors were given this last name during the Battle of Hastings that decided the fate of England."

At this point, Fiona looked at Arthur's face, which was so real yet almost unreal, and couldn't help but think of the day when he rose from his coffin in the church: "My dear, sometimes I even wonder, are you really a human? After all, it's impossible for a human to..."

Arthur interrupted her quickly: "This is the University of Göttingen, ma'am. I beg you not to spread superstition here. It will cause a lot of trouble to my work."

Fiona hesitated for a moment, but finally she couldn't help but say, "Let me guess, have you actually lived for a thousand years?"

Arthur chuckled. "If I really lived for a thousand years, then I'd be a failure to be like this now. Even if I started working a thousand years ago, I should have saved tens of thousands of pounds by now, right?"

Agares, who was eating an apple under the tree, spat out the apple peel when he heard this. The red devil who had lived for more than 2,000 years glared at Arthur and cursed: "Arthur, you kid! Who the hell are you scolding!"

Arthur pretended not to hear Agares's scolding. He changed the subject and said, "By the way, how has Charles been these past two days?"

Fiona replied calmly, "Don't worry. I have been more cautious since the Delfina incident. Wherever Mr. Whitstone goes, there are always two people following him. He tried to escape on the way to Göttingen, but after so many failures, he has probably accepted his fate. Moreover, he seems to be in a good mood these past two days. During the day, he helps the observatory build telegraph equipment, and at night he can't put down the book "Calculation of Electric Current" that you translated. He also found a German book to study by himself, saying that he wants to communicate with Mr. Ohm."

Arthur was surprised when he heard this: "Charles actually took the initiative to ask to meet someone else?"

Fiona nodded gently and said, "He didn't actually want to meet Ohm directly at first. On the first day, he just asked us to send a message to Ohm, but because they didn't speak the same language, the two of them couldn't communicate smoothly. After sending letters back and forth more than a dozen times, Mr. Whiston became anxious. It seemed that he had some new idea and he had to explain it to Mr. Ohm."

Arthur paused and frowned, "A new idea?"

Fiona pouted and said, "Why are you so surprised by this? In my opinion, the fact that two grown men are sending letters to each other more than ten times a day is more suspicious."

"That's not surprising," Arthur replied. "When Charles was in London, he and Alfred in the editorial office exchanged a lot of telegrams every day. If it weren't for his low efficiency in writing letters, I think with his nature, he would have been able to output a quarto volume of novels every day."

"This is really weird."

"You haven't told me what new ideas he has? What does the letter say?"

"I don't understand it either. But the general meaning seems to be that Mr. Wheatstone agrees with Mr. Ohm's point of view, and he has a way to help Mr. Ohm prove his theory. The specific method seems to be through some kind of bridge experiment."

"The bridge experiment?"

Arthur was confused. "Do I have to build a bridge for them at the venue?"

"Then I don't know." Fiona replied: "Wait until the telegraph equipment is ready, then you can send a telegram to ask him yourself."

The two men walked out of the Göttingen campus while talking, but before they had gone far, they saw a carriage slowly approaching the school gate.

Two heads popped out of the carriage window. They were Mendelssohn and Liszt, waving their top hats at them.

"Arthur, good news, we've solved the tenor problem!"

(End of this chapter)